The Definition of Information Technology

The concept of information technology refers to the use of telecommunications equipment and computers (computers) for the transmission, processing and storage of data. The notion covers issues of information technology, electronics and telecommunications.

It is important to note that the idea of information technology arose in the mid-twentieth century. However, the human being already stored, processed and transmitted information several millennia before Christ. These processes, of course, were very different from the current ones.

This makes the notion associated with computers, but also includes other devices such as televisions, phones and tablets. Today, information technology is indispensable in a large number of areas, from academic to work, through leisure and interpersonal communications.

Most companies today make use of information technology constantly. Take the case of a clothing store that has a website where it presents data of their products and also uses the email to contact their customers and suppliers. In the local, a computer allows to register the operations and to issue the invoices that they deliver to the buyers. The computer also records the stock movements.

Many people also appeal to information technology in everyday life, communicating by email, chat or phone; Watching television for information; And using video game consoles as entertainment, to mention just a few activities.

One of the stalls most popular work today is that of management services information technology, which comes from English Information Technology Service Management , and usually known as IT Management , including Spanish – speaking countries ( Note that the acronym of “information technology” is written with letters in opposite order to that of our language).

It is expected that a professional in this field has acquired the necessary knowledge to design, develop, implement and maintain computer information systems, in addition to being able to provide support to the other employees of the company in which it performs. It is a complementary role, for example, to the programmers, since it is in charge of the installation and maintenance of all the programs used in the company, the administration and repair of the networks and the update of the devices.

Every time the operating system, the antivirus or any of the company’s programs must be installed or updated, the person responsible for IT Management comes into action; Similarly, you should assist your colleagues in solving software and hardware problems, take care of replacing defective parts, designing and deploying network structures to supply all employees with Internet and intranet connections, and even writing small programs computer serving to streamline certain processes, thus avoiding the need to work in each particular computer.

Throughout history, the need to store and propagate information has become increasingly important, and at present are basic issues for the development of human life. Many of the limitations of early computer age have been overcome, such as device dimensions, processing speed, and memory volatility (the first storage media were unable to retain data once it was interrupted The supply of electrical energy, as it happens with the RAM), but still many challenges remain, being the stability of the Internet one of the main ones, without leaving aside the abysmal differences between the suppliers of developed countries against the underdeveloped ones.

Now let’s have a look on in-depth definition of information technology

Information Technology is a lovely area of knowledge. And whoever is beginning to study it has a new world to discover. Therefore, we have prepared this post as a practical guide to concepts that every IT Management student should know.

Let’s start with the very concept of IT? Information technology basically describes any technology that allows the flow of information storage and processing within an organization.

Everything that refers to computers, software, networks, intranets, sites, servers, databases and telecommunications is under the umbrella of IT. We highlight six concepts of Information Technology.

Information Systems (IS)

The difference between IT and SI is basically as follows: IT corresponds to the technical part and SI to the workflow, people and information involved. An information system is the combination of equipment and software involved in the dissemination of information. Companies use information systems to do transaction processing, management and also decision support.

Hardware and software

Abbreviated as HW, the hardware is best described as a device that is physically linked to the computer: something tangible. Most hardware will contain a circuit board and other electronics. An example of perfect hardware is the monitor, an output device that allows the users to interact visually with the machine.

The software may be considered a set of commands that allows the users to interact with the computers or perform specific pre-set (scheduled) tasks. Without having the software, the computer would be unusable. For instance, without the browser, you would not be able to access the web.

First, second and third generations of computers

A few decades ago, the first computers – the so-called mainframes – appeared huge machines. At the time, we had few machines, few users and few applications. This was the first generation of IT.

Twenty-five years later, around 1986, the first personal computers (PC’s) came to market. From there, companies no longer depended on computing bureaus (sites that received the data and processed it as a third party service), starting the second generation.

The third generation is the one we are living today, which, according to IDC consultancy, responsible for classification, began around 2010 and is driven by some pillars such as Mobility, Cloud Computing and Big Data.

Mobility

Mobile technology is exactly what the name implies – technology that is portable. Examples of mobile IT devices include laptops, tablets and netbooks, smartphones, global positioning system (GPS) devices, payment terminals with the credit card and wireless debit etc.

Cloud computing

Cloud computing is a technological concept that refers to the processing and availability of data in datacenters around the world. Clouds can be public, private or hybrid (mix of public and private).

Big data

Big data is a term used to describe the exponential growth and availability of structured and unstructured data. It can also describe the set of technological solutions (market intelligence software, CRM, analytical applications, etc.) to extract relevant information from these data.